THE KING’S .BUSINESS
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of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thou sand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, (;) thirty basons (bowls) of gold, silver basons (bowls) of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thou sand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of (,when they of) the captivity that (omit, that ) were brought up from Babylon unto J e r u s a l e m The sacred vessels which had belonged to the house of Jehovah at Jeru salem, but which Nebuchadnezzar had car ried away in the sack of the city, and which Belshazzar had desecrated to adorn his Did Cyrus’ decree include the rebuilding of the city, with the house? Isa. 44:26-28. Whose mouth uttered the prediction here referred to? v. 1. But whose word was in that mouth? v. 1. Where do we find this word of Jere miah? Jer. 25:12-14; 29:10; 33:7-13. What authority does Cyrus here ascribe to Jehovah? v. 2. Does he seem to have been a polytheist, or a monotheist? Who mentioned Cyrus by name two hun dred years before his birth? Isa. 45:1. Who gave Cyrus his victories? Isa. 45:1-4. For whose sake did Jehovah aid Cyrus? Isa. 45:4. Wh^t represented Cyrus in Nebuchad nezzar’s image? Dan. 2:32. Which beast represented it? Dan. 7:5. Where does Daniel predict Cyrus’ decree ? Dan. 9:25. (2 ) Cyrus’ Exhortation, vs. 3, 4. On whom did Cyrus call to go up and rebuild ? v. 3. With what pious wish does he accom pany his exhortation? v. 4. LESSON ( 1 ) Cyrus’ Proclamation, vs. 1, 2. What was the first year of Cyrus? v. 1 (margin).
heathen debauch and Iiad thus brought on his own ruin and destruction (Daniel 5:2-4, 23-28), were now brought forth by Cyrus and restored to their proper use. What Cyrus d id . he certainly did with hearty good will. The sacred utensils were entrusted (o the rightful prince of Judah. The same given here, Sheshbazzar, was his Persian name: Zerubbabel was his other name (Zechariah 4:6). There were 5400 vessels in all, but in the numbers specified in verses 9, 10 there were only 2499. Pre sumably only the chief vessels are speci fied, spoons, etc., being omitted. The full list is given in Esdras 2:13, 14, which sums up to 5400. OUTLINE What does he affirm of Jehovah? v. 3. What title does he give Him? v. 3. Whom does he embrace in his exhorta tion? Did he command his own Gentiles to help ? v. 4. With what were they to aid the return ing tribes? v. 4. How did these Gentiles respond? v. 6. In what spirit was it all done? Of what glorious event was all this typ ical? Isa. 60:9, 10; 66:20. Who had built the original temple? 1 Kings 6:1. Had it been a costly edifice? 1 Chr. 22:1-5. What was the end of it? 2 Chr 36:19. (3 ) Cyrus’ Restitution, vs. 7-11. What were those “vessels” of the house of the Lord? 1 Chr. 28:14-18. At whose instruction had they been made? 1 Chr. 28:19. Who saw the pattern of them first? Exod. 26:30. Does the Word of God lay much stress on these supernaturally provided patterns? Exod. 25:40. Why was so much stress laid on the exact reproduction of the patterns? Col. 2:17.
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